Toshodaiji -
The Willpower of a Chinese Priest

Toshodaiji is a very special temple. In the first place, it was founded by Ganjin, a Chinese priest who made the perilous journey to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government to introduce correct monastic rules and establish an authentic ordination platform. Although Buddhism had been known and even flourished in Japan for two centuries, this important aspect thought to give legitimacy was still lacking. In the Far East, a tradition (whether it be a religious teaching or a craft) is handed down from master to disciple and it is important to be part of the legitimate line - in this case, the direct transmission from the Buddha to his disciples and so on through the ages.

In the second place, Toshodaiji became a terminus for Chinese immigrant artists (several of whom probably traveled with Ganjin), who introduced the latest styles of Buddhist sculpture from 8th century China. One of these styles, favoring statues carved from wood, became dominant in the Heian period, after the capital had been moved to Kyoto in the late 8th c.

And in the third place, as Toshodaiji was a private temple, dedicated to instructing monks in the ascetic precepts, it kept out of politics and thus survived relatively intact until our own times. Four of the original, 8th c. buildings are still extant, among which the Kondo or Golden Hall (the only example to survive from that period) and the Kodo or Lecture Hall, which was originally a hall of the Nara palace and donated by the court to the new temple. The existence of these old buildings in the quiet, wooded grounds makes Toshodaiji one of the most beautiful temples in all of Nara.

The Lecture Hall

The Hardships of a Chinese Priest
Ganjin (Ch. Jianzhen, 687-763) lived in the Damingsi monastery in the middle Yangzi area in China (present-day Yangzhou). He had attracted a large number of followers as Master of the Buddhist Precepts (Vinaya, J. ritsu). In 742, two monks of one of the Japanese embassies that regularly visited China in those years, invited him to come to Japan, but it took eleven more years and six attempts before he reached the Japanese shore. He was shipwrecked twice, and at one time blown off course all the way to Hainan Island. The hardship he suffered caused him to go blind, but he did not waver in his determination. When in the spring of 754 he finally arrived in Nara, he was already 66 years of age, but he immediately set up an ordination platform for 400 people at Todaiji, among whom the emperor and other members of the imperial house. For five years he continued working in Todaiji.

In 759 he retired to a piece of land he had received as a grant from the court in the western part of Nara, just north of Yakushiji. There he founded a school for teaching the ritsu precepts and also set up a private temple, Toshodaiji. There were still some buildings of an older estate left in the grounds (including the two storehouses still extant today) and other buildings (the Lecture Hall, but also a refectory and living quarters) were donated by members of the court. The Golden Hall, however, was not built until several years after Ganjin's death, probably somewhere in the 770s.

The Main Hall

The Three Statues
I have been several times to Toshodaiji already, and every time anew I am impressed by the large statues standing in the open part of the main hall, so that they already can be glimpsed from afar. Such an open hall, where the statues have to worshipped from outside, is a rarity. In the past, ordinary people could not enter the gate but they could peek at these exotic statues and feel their power. In the center sits a hollow-core dry-lacquer statue of the seated Birushana Buddha, which is over three meters tall. In Sanskrit called Vairocana, this is the Cosmic Buddha who also had became the main image of Todaiji, where Ganjin had set up an ordination platform. It may have been that connection that prompted him to install this cosmic Buddha also in Toshodaiji. The face is august and majestic, and the whole gilded statue exudes a strong will-power. The halo at the back is filled with countless small Buddha figures. This Birushana is accompanied by wooden statues of Bonten and Taishakuten, and Four Deva Kings guard the corners of the altar.

The the left stands the Thousand-armed Kannon, a standing statue in the wood-core dry-lacquer technique, that is rare because it really has 1000 arms stretching out like a halo behind it (only 953 are left today). It is a gigantic statue, more than 5 meters high. Also large is the Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha, who dates from the last years of the 8th century. It is a wonder these fragile statues have survived the ages unscathed, but here again, like Horyuji Toshodaiji was a private temple that did not dabble in politics. It were the worldly temples, centers of secular power such as Kofukuji and Todaiji, that were destroyed time and again.

Although all statues date from the 8th c., the combination of statues in the Golden Hall is probably not the original one. Groups of statues are always based on certain sutras and their arrangements. There is no liturgical text connecting the Yakushi and the Thousand-Armed Kannon with Birushana, so these two were probably moved here at a later date, for example from other temple halls that had fallen in disrepair.

All statues are in a heavy style, with short necks, large, round faces, and massive bodies. This was the new fashion in China, and together with the severe and aloof expressions of the statues, it fits a temple putting emphasis on rules and right behavior. It is a clear break with the dominant Tempyo-period style, which was warm and almost sensual. Although the statues were devised by Chinese artists, there must also have been heavy involvement from the government workshop in Todaiji, as this was the only place where statues in the the expensive lacquer-technique could be executed.

Next I make my way to the temple museum, which houses a group of damaged wooden statues. These have no additions of lacquerwork, and were probably sculpted by a group of Chinese artisans, who came together with Ganjin to Japan. Their craft may have helped the shift from lacquer and bronze to wood which occurred in the Heian-period . The style is again heavy and severe, but with rather small heads, while the legs are quite long. It became one of the dominant styles of the ninth century and can, for example, be found in the Yakushi Nyorai of Jingoji in Kyoto. This style also has an esoteric quality.

Detail of the Sutra repository

Ganjin's Grave
There is more in Toshodaiji: the beautiful Lecture Hall, originally from the Nara Palace (and the only building from such an early palace still existing) with its Miroku statue; the 8th c. sutra and treasure repositories, two storehouses in the log cabin style of the Shosoin; the elegant Drum Tower; and the Ordination Platform, standing in a lotus pond.

Last but not least, Ganjin himself is also still present in his temple. The beautiful portrait statue made of him shortly before he died has been called not only the earliest, but also the greatest of that category of sculpture in Japan. Executed in dry-lacquer, Ganjin sits meditating in the lotus position. Details of the beard and eyelashes have been added by paint. The eyes are slightly swollen, perhaps indicating that he was blind. The face is peaceful, but the whole posture exudes a strong determination. Ganjin died on the 6th day of the 5th month of 763, siting upright in lotus position, facing west.

Unfortunately, the statue is only revealed on June 6, the commemoration of Ganjin's death. It used to be housed in the Kaisando or Founder's Hall, in front of which stands a stone engraved with Basho's moving haiku about Ganjin. The statue is now kept in the new, but tasteful Mieido, at the back of the grounds. This hall has been decorated with wallpaintings of pine forests and seascapes by nihonga painter Higashiyama Kaii, a masterwork of modern art.

Ganjin's grave can also be found at the back of the temple grounds. In front of it have been placed a marble table and bronze incense vase in Chinese style. Behind that, steps lead up to a small stone stupa. It is a very tasteful arrangement. I stand there and think about Ganjin.

I first learned about Ganjin when I was in China, in 1980. To celebrate the friendship between China and Japan, the statue had been brought back to Ganjin's original temple in Yangzhou, and I filed past it in an endless line of curious Chinese. A few year's later, I came to Japan and one of my first visits was to Toshodaiji. I enjoyed the temple, but was a bit disappointed I could not see the statue again. I did not know yet that certain statues are too holy to be daily exposed to the stare of tourists. Since then, I have been often in Toshodaiji, the most authentic temple in Nara after Horyuji. I feel drawn to the seriousness and severity of the large statues in its Golden hall. I have seen the Ganjin statue again, too - the last time at an exhibition in Tokyo, when it had been placed in a glass case and could be observed at leisure from various angles.

Now, while I stand in front of his grave, I clearly see Ganjin in my mind: his immense concentration and determination, a lesson for everyone's life.

Ganjin's Grave